Latest on Wellesley Country Club building plans

As we noted recently, neighbors were invited to meet with WCC last Thursday night to hear the club’s latest proposals for building a new maintenance building and other facilities. Its earlier plans were received poorly by neighbors and the town due to concerns about the impact of the construction on the environment.

One member of the Friends of Brookside Association who was on hand for most of the meeting reported the following:

30+ people showed up at the meeting in a cold snowy night… It was refreshing to see that the Club opted to present their plans to the abutters prior to filing the formal NOI (notice of intent) for the town permits. WCC’s Paul DeYesso seemed willing to listen and tried to address some of the concerns of the residents for the proposed location. The lightning station (where golfers would hunker down in the case of a storm) and restrooms will be located by the Community Gardens. The rest of their operations would be split among three sites: the current maintenance location, a smaller building by the Paddle Courts, and the main building will be located at a site near the intersection of Wellesley Avenue and Brookside Road towards Needham, but still on the Wellesley side. Residents from Wellesley and Needham had lots of comments and questions. People were asking why the Club did not locate the huge maintenance building at the Paddle Court location away from any residential area, the watershed and scenic Brookside Road, considering that location can be accessed from Forest Street. DeYesso mentioned the cost of moving the Paddle Courts would be large.

From here, it remains to be seen how the Notice of Intent evolves and town planning officials will respond.